


Silly Little Distractions

by JudeClee



Category: Mr. Robot (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Introspection, M/M, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-09-06 17:57:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8763148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JudeClee/pseuds/JudeClee
Summary: Tyrell Wellick had never meant to fall in love with Elliot Alderson.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is canon compliant from Tyrell's point of view. I wanted to explore how his interest in Elliot changed over the course of Season 1.

Sometimes Tyrell needed a distraction.

Work was such a sterile environment, such an everything-by-the-book environment. He thrived in that kind of environment, but even he had to admit that it could grow depressingly dull sometimes. The same little details, the same boring people day in and out could get so…monotonous. That didn’t bother him, not really, because he knew it was necessary for his plans, but a little distraction now and then could help him get through the day.

Elliot Alderson was a distraction.

He wasn’t entirely sure why he signaled Elliot out on that first day. It was a whim, really, something that caught his eye when he first spotted the young Allsafe employee hunched over his desk. Maybe it had something to do with Elliot’s attitude, which screamed so loudly that he didn’t belong. It practically radiated off of him: the way he hunched his shoulders, the way he kept his desk free of any family pictures or useless knickknacks, and the way his gray eyes shone so intensely. Maybe he just wanted to talk tech with someone who looked like they’d understand—if he had to listen to any more of Colby’s illiterate babbling, he was going to shoot someone. 

Maybe, just maybe, he saw a little of himself in the younger man, or at least, a little of the old Tyrell. The Tyrell he’d almost forgotten about, the one who pretended he wasn’t intimidated by the New York streets and hid his accent and started at the lowest level of E Corp.

So he struck up a conversation. Elliot stared at him the whole time like the mere act of talking to him broke some unspoken social code. Most people would’ve got the hint, but not Tyrell. If anything, it made Tyrell want to talk to him more, to find out what he’d do or say. Yes, Elliot was a distraction, and an intriguing one. 

He would forget about Elliot eventually. That’s how it always went with these silly, momentary distractions. Before long, he’d be the CTO of one of the most powerful corporations in the world, with a beautiful wife and perfect nuclear family. Everything in his life was building up to that. Distractions helped him get through the day, but he never lost sight of the bigger picture. 

And then the hack happened. He would never say this out loud, of course (he wasn’t stupid), but that hack was the best thing that ever happen to him. It took down that idiot Colby in one fell swoop, and left Tyrell to become the youngest CTO E Corp had ever seen. It was interim CTO, but still, he was on his way.

He had Elliot to thank for that. That Allsafe tech was behind it—and hadn’t he been right to focus on him? The first sign was at that meeting, the one at Allsafe. Colby preened and puffed out his chest like a strutting rooster, dressing down that blonde just because it suited his fancy. The morons in the room focused all of their attention on that, but Tyrell wasn’t watching what’s-her-name; his eyes were on Elliot, or rather, what Elliot was watching. He alone saw that cold look come over Elliot’s eyes, and then saw him switch the folders.

“Once you decrypt it, you’ll know where the hack came from.”

Tyrell didn’t know what to make of it at the time, but he knew it meant something. He was immensely curious about what was in that folder. He wondered if Colby would show him. 

He didn’t have to wait long to find out. Colby was arrested for his involvement with that fscoiety group. Ha! Anyone who sat in the same room as Colby should know how ridiculous that was, but everyone lapped it up, or pretended to. He knew then that Elliot framed Colby. The question was why.

Elliot Alderson was a ghost—at least online. No Facebook, Twitter, or Linked-In. No online presence whatsoever. Almost like he didn’t exist. 

He couldn’t find anything about Elliot, but he did find a connection between Alderson and E Corp, after a while. There was an obituary for an Edward Alderson from Washington Township, who died in 1995 and was survived by a wife and two children, Elliot and Darlene. Washington Township, 1995. He knew what that meant—you didn’t get as high up as he was without knowing what that meant—and once he checked the database he could prove it. This was Elliot’s motive.

He knew that he needed Elliot to work for him. It was an impulsive decision, but he knew it was the right one. He wanted this person close to him. It wasn’t out of gratitude, though Tyrell knew damn well that he owed Elliot for his current good luck. It was something more. Something felt but not easily articulated. 

It troubled him, but only for a moment before he pushed it away. Why shouldn’t he want such a brilliant person to work for him? He would be an asset, especially if he was as submissive as Tyrell thought. No need for him to second guess himself. 

It stung when Elliot rejected him. He’d been so sure that Elliot would jump at the offer; any sane person would. Not that it mattered, since it wasn’t like he needed Elliot. He was just a distraction, and amusement, something to help him get by when things got excruciatingly boring. Fine then. He’d put Elliot out of his mind completely. 

That would be so much easier to do if he didn’t keep bumping into Elliot, and always at the weirdest times. Like Steel Mountain. Elliot disarmed him with just one sentence: “you eat here?” Anger and humiliation whirled up in him, and he never even stopped to ask himself why it bothered himself so much, he just whisked Elliot off to the executive lounge. That might be why he followed him to the bathroom, to get back at him. “I know you framed Colby,” he said, just so he could watch Elliot squirm and stutter, and Tyrell felt smug satisfaction that yes, you don’t have power over me, I have power over you. He felt way too pleased about that exchange.

Love was a funny thing. Tyrell used to consider it a trivial thing that only saps waxed poetic about. That was before he met Joanna. Joanna was beyond compare: beautiful, intelligent, cunning. She was someone worthy of love, someone who helped him become better just by being around. For the longest time, he thought that Joanna was the only being he could truly love.

He didn’t love Elliot. He couldn’t. He was attracted to him, yes, but what was the point denying that? Elliot was certainly beautiful, if in an unconventional way. Beautiful and fascinating. That was all. He needed to stop thinking about him.

Then things went straight to hell. In retrospect, Tyrell should have seen the signs, but at the time it came out of nowhere. Scott Knowles was CTO. Sharon Knowles was dead. Joanna was telling him to fix this, but he couldn’t see how. His perfect life had inverted, becoming a twisted parody of itself. He lost everything, just when it seemed to be coming together.

Well, maybe not everything. Elliot was the one constant in the chaos. Brilliant, deceptive Elliot, who Tyrell was starting to suspect was planning something big with fsociety. Hell, Elliot probably was fsociety. He needed to know what he was planning, and if it could be the salvation he needed. 

It was a very different Elliot who got into his car on Coney Island. Gone was the awkward, submissive Elliot. The person in his car slouched without a care in the world and spoke with the authority of a prophet. He barely even looked at him, as if Tyrell wasn’t worthy of Elliot’s notice. It broke something in Tyrell. He panicked at the sight of Elliot leaving the car. He couldn’t let him go like that—couldn’t let Elliot leave thinking that Tyrell wasn’t worthy. 

Tyrell was always meant to discover Elliot. He could see that now. He had thought he was destined to become CTO, but now he could see how wrong he was. His old life, his time at E Corp, only mattered for one very simple reason: it brought him to Elliot. If only he could make Elliot see that. It was what propelled him out of the car and after Elliot’s retreating form, in one last desperate chance to make him see—to make him understand—that they belonged together. 

“You’re only seeing what’s in front of you,” Elliot told him. “You’re not seeing what’s above you.”

And with that, he was gone. He had his purpose in life, he had his love, and he would follow Elliot wherever it lead him.


End file.
